Project #3 "Cake" aka THEY SCREAM AT OWN CAKE

PROJECT #3 "CAKE"

"Cake" Studio Version

This piece was a lot of fun to do. When the idea of incongruous sound was placed in our minds, I started to ruminate over what our project could be. My first thought was Marina Abramovic and Ulay's AAAAA-AAAAA piece, and wanted to feature the contrast between screaming and whispering. Initially, I went to Lily with the idea of one artist opening their mouth to scream, but the other artist vocalizes the whispering/murmuring. Then the whispering/murmuring artist opens their mouth to whisper and the other artist begins to scream. The incongruous sound was the wrong sound coming out of each other.

Troublemaker Twins

Lily however wanted to do something with food--and that gave me more ideas about being more and more absurd. Lily wanted cake. I love cake. And I loved the idea of getting a sheet cake with white frosting and pretty little flowers on it. So together we came up with the idea of the cake being consumed savagely by Lily while I play the voice of the cake and shriek in pain and torture. Our absurdity and incongruous sound was personifying the cake and giving it life.

He scream. So much scream. :/

I am a big spectacle/aesthetic artist; so I was hoping to buy a cake. But I'm also a college student and I do not have the funds to invest in a cake to destroy--and then buy a second for a video. So we chose to bake a simple cake and let the simplicity be in and of itself.

Live Performance Video

I am really happy with how the performance came together. If I could financed by someone to build a set with a giant flag behind us, or if we could just be financed for pretty, pre-made sheet cakes, and not have to bake the cakes ourselves, I would be just fine with that. If we could have gotten someone to lead the audience in, I think it would have been more effective--I would have walked in with the audience like an audience plant. The mirror didn't get noticed, but I was hoping to place it so that the audience could see themselves and be made complicit in the action of Lily eating this cake. For me this piece is a lot about body issues, and I liked the explanation that I was Lily's internal monologue as she forced herself to eat this cake. Holding the audience--society--responsible for these body issues and food issues I think makes them think and reconsider things.

The Residue ... aka The Corpse

For the reshot video--the direct to video performance, I wanted to refocus the performance piece on Lily. It is about her eating the cake. The video needed some kind of lead-in, so I thought about using instrumental music from television. There's a magical element to the idea of personifying a cake, so I suppose Bewitched popped into my head from that. I'm living in the 50's and 60's right now with my Mac and Cheese piece, so maybe it grew off of that. Either way, the tunes give a carefree vibe lovely vibe that then is contrasted by the constant screaming and savagery of Lily's attacks on the cake. Placing the music at the end gave me a lead out, since I ran out of screaming track; and also created a fun montage that amped up the absurdity. I'm really pleased with the video. As someone who likes to work with high spectacle and visual, I wish I could have set the videos in a more vivid and vibrant location. Working with the idea that my screaming was the internal monologue of Lily, I wanted to contrast the two of us. I thought about placing her outside on a park bench surrounded by green, while I was trapped inside, in a white room--or even in a mechanical area underneath Kimmel Stage. But Lily wanted to make sure we kept simplicity in mind, and with such a short deadline I had to agree. The contrast comes in the way that I'm backed into a corner and wearing a black shirt, while Lily is just up against a white wall, with plenty of room and wearing a white shirt. Enjoy the reshot version! And watch it next to the live for some great comparisons!

edit: Wednesday April 27 @ 10:20pm VIDEO uploaded w/ commentary.